A mix of totalitarian regimes and young democracies and a melting pot of ethnic minorities, the Black Sea region is a point of convergence for three major civilisations - European, Asian and Middle Eastern.

Regardless of their nationality or social status, almost all the citizens of the nations around the Black Sea work for years with one dream in their mind - to spend a week at its shores.

Its waters, coastline and inland areas have suffered a massive transformation over the millenia, as the surrounding and occupying countries tried to tame, reshape and extract the resources from the maritime zone.

Photographer Petrut Calinescu teamed up in 2010 with friend and journalist Stefan Candea to circumvent the sea and explore the multitude of cultures and landscapes that lie at its borders.

Their journey took them through Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine and Moldova.

Along their travels, they passed through the autonomous republics, some internationally recognised, others stuck in diplomatic limbo, such as North Karabakh, Abkhazia and Transnistria.

The result was a travel blog, which today slowly grew up and today, with the involvement of other journalists from the Black Sea, is being transformed into this online platform for in-depth stories: www.theblacksea.eu